In this YouTube video, host Evan Carmichael presents a curated "Top 10 Rules for Success" featuring R&B star Trey Songz. Throughout the interview, Trey shares personal anecdotes and philosophy that illustrate each rule. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining a "game face" and focus, embracing the long‑term learning curve, and working harder than fear ever could. Trey frames his career as a sport, stressing competition with himself rather than others, and constantly striving to outdo his previous work. Authenticity is a recurring theme—staying true to his inner voice, ignoring critics, and refusing to be boxed into a single genre. He discusses the sacrifices required, noting that personal life often takes a back‑seat to his craft, yet this dedication fuels his growth. Trey also highlights diversification: releasing music weekly ("Music Monday"), touring with Jay‑Z, performing with Stevie Wonder, and venturing into acting and business partnerships. He challenges conventional notions of success, arguing that true success is happiness derived from doing what you love, not material symbols. The video concludes with Evan prompting viewers to reflect on the lessons, comment, and nominate future subjects, while Trey reinforces the mantra of believing in oneself.
Chapters
You know, the day that I don't have my game face on is the day I might lose. I wasn't as successful as I wanted to be for a very long time, but the older I get, the more I appreciate that process. Your life is yours to live, and when you let the voices of others drown out your inner voice, when you let them start to talk and they start dictating how you move.
He's an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His single "Heart Attack" was nominated as Best R&B Song at the 2013 Grammy Awards. He's sold over 14 million records worldwide. He's Trey Songz, and here's my take on his top 10 rules for success. Rule number 6 is my personal favorite, and I'd love to know which one you guys like the best. And as always, as you're watching, if you hear something that really resonates with you, please leave it in the comments below. Put quotes around it so other people can be inspired as well, and when you write it down, it's much more likely to stick with you as well.
Enjoy. Anybody that, you know, puts their passion, their devotion, their love, their time, you know, dedication into, you know, you're gonna get upset about that from time to time. You're gonna get— and not only upset, you're gonna have every emotion about what it is that you do when you really love it. Yeah. You're gonna cry sometimes about it. You're gonna get angry sometimes. You're gonna be really happy about it. But it's gonna be times that you're very upset. Yeah. Whether it be in the way somebody perceives your music, whether it be your mic getting cut off, whether it be you playing your music for an executive and they saying, "I don't think that's it." You know what I mean? It's so many things as far as artists concerned. So when we speak about like working with people, like what's left, it's so much more left 'cause I'm still finding myself. You know what I mean? So as I make music and continue to make music, I just wanna be true to me as a person. You know, the day that I don't have my game face on is the day I might lose. You know, that's a part of the focus. That's a part of knowing what you sign up for. I know what I want from this, and I know what it has— what it takes to get there. Hard work ain't never scared me. I know what it's felt like to not be the hottest, to not be as relevant, to not have top 10 single after top 10 single, or number 1 single after number 1 single. So those moments are fresh in my mind, and I work hard to make sure that I stay here. My personal life actually takes a backseat at times to this, and I understand that, and my family understands that, and I work hard to get all that it is that I want. I always tell people the biggest, biggest benefit to my career was probably in the beginning, the thing I hated the most, like how long it took me to get to where I feel was where I was getting my just due. Yeah, you know, my first album came, of course, at the crib is going crazy. Just Gotta Make It, Gotta Go, Wonder Woman, everything in our nucleus on the East Coast. We— but I wasn't as successful as I wanted to be for a very long time. But the older I get, the more I appreciate that process, that learning curve, the ability to grow gradually. So I had to learn everything in front of everybody. Like, I didn't get catapulted immediately into success. That gave me appreciation for but the journey to get to success, that gave me appreciation. That made me work hard. Like, that's why I work as hard as I do now today, 'cause I feel like if "Gotta Make It" would've went number 1 Billboard chart top of success, my first single ever, I don't think I had the same work ethic, just being honest. I don't write down goals and go get 'em. You know, I know a lot of people do that, but I just kind of try to outdo myself, outdo my last, outdo, And although this is a competition in every sport, and I look at this industry as a sport because it's numbers and it's money and it's achievements and it's championships, etc., etc., you know, I'm only really in competition with myself, you know, although it is, you know, a fun competition to look over and see what your homie doing, you know what I mean? For me, it's all about bettering me. Bettering the music I make, bettering my fan experience, bettering my business, bettering myself as a man. And the truth is there's a lot I want to accomplish in the music industry. There's a lot I want to accomplish as a businessman. I haven't done a lot of those things yet, although I have done a lot. I feel like I'm just getting my feet wet and the ceiling is very high for me. Your feelings get hurt in situations where people let you down. Or people, you know, take your name to, you know, do whatever for their success. What I think we as a people get too engulfed in is what everybody else has to say about it. Like, your life is yours to live, and when you let the voices of others drown out your inner voice, when you let them start to talk and they start dictating how you move, you gotta stand out. You gotta be strong within yourself. I love to do music, so I always rap and I always— You know, the funny thing about it is when I was rapping and singing, it was like, it was like, it was something out of this world. Well, he's gonna sing and rap, but he's an R&B singer. Like, and the beauty I love about music nowadays is that you have artists that almost everybody do both.
Right.
You know what I mean? So I think that's a great part of the evolution of music is artists being creative and believing in themselves no matter what box that people try to put them in. Because no matter what you trying to do with your life, other people gonna try to put you in this box. Definitely. So you gotta push through it. No matter how great I am, how many records I sell, no matter how many hits I have, I'm only a man. I'm not better than the next man. Now it's at an elevated level where I'm more in demand and, you know, less of my time is my own. When I work hard, well, I work very hard, but I could work harder. It's the way I look at it, like, and I'm doing very good, but I could do better. I'm very successful, but I want live in that moment. There was a point where I was putting out a new song every week, you know. It was Trey Songz Music Monday. I put out a new song every Monday for like 2 and a half months before my mixtape came out, which was Anticipation, which got 50,000 downloads the first night, you know. Ready came out. Ready's had 6 or 7 singles. I think that has a lot to do with going on tour with Jay-Z, who who's an international superstar that definitely brings a lot of attention to my name. I performed with Stevie Wonder on the BET Honors. You know, I kissed Toni Braxton on stage. You know, like, so it was a lot of steps towards where I am now, and I think that it's just beginning even still. You know, that's why this run is so jam-packed, my schedule. That's why I'm in a different country every day, to make my presence felt. And even when I come back next time, I'll work even harder to make my presence felt. Because I still, I'm working here this time like I'm a new actor. My manager told me we gonna come out here, we gonna act like it's 2005. And what that means is act like I just gotta make it, you know? So I don't feel as though I'm a superstar here yet. I'm working my way there. But I'm not in it just for the money. You know, the cars, cars, clothes, hoes, I suppose. You know, that's— and that's the tricky thing about that song, you know, is that when I say, "I suppose," it's kind of like thinking in hindsight, is that really what success is? No, it's not. That's what success is perceived to be and what we're taught that it is through TV, through movies, through videos, et cetera. But success is really what makes you happy in your heart. Making music makes me happy. Hey, can I get the ladies to make some noise? [CHEERING] Can y'all hear? 1, 2, 3, go, go. I know you got to dress up for the club. Louder, come on. When I make them pick you up, baby. Ooh, I got you. I got you. I just needed something. Now we straight back to the crib. Oh yeah. I'm finna give you something that you won't forget. No, baby, I just want to teach you how to love. Very loud. I just want to see you dance in slow motion. That's their part right there. What? And we can what? We can take our time, baby. Slow motion. Hey. If we could take it, take it, take our time, stay here in slow motion.
Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Ruby Watson asked me to. Also, if you want to nominate someone for the next top 10 video, please check the description for a link to a video where you can vote for people and put in your suggestions as well. I'd love to know what did you take from this video? What was the most important important lesson that you learned that blew your mind that you're going to immediately apply to your life or your business somehow, please leave it down in the comments below. I'm super curious to find out. I also wanna give a quick shout out to John Jenkins. John, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word, and posting it on Twitter. I really appreciate the support, man, and I'm glad you enjoyed the read. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love.
I'll see you soon. In life in general, you gotta believe in you. You gotta believe in you, and it's gonna be critics, as you mentioned earlier. Critics don't determine you. You live your life for you. You do what you do for you. Because the moment you start to live your life for others, you'll lose yourself, which within that. Focus on what it is that you want to have, go get it. I read that you said something about you've been getting a lot of scripts, but you've been putting your acting career kind of on hold to get this album finished and out. This album and my musical career all together, I want to make sure that it's at a certain level, whereas though when I, when I take acting seriously and I want to step into that arena, I could play ball with the best of them, you know. I don't want to try to juggle too many things at one time because when I'm, when I'm focused on my music, I give my all. And if acting is something I want to take seriously, I want to be able to do the same with that. Well, with every album I've gotten better, you know, as far as sales are concerned, as far as chart placement. I feel as far as artistry, as far as artist development and growth, you know. So that's just part of the evolution that I feel is the natural progression of my story. You know, I was on tour with Jay earlier this year and the opportunity came about. It was an initial conversation turned into a meeting turned into some paperwork work, you know, and the thing I love most about it is how honest it is, and I think that's what people love about the actual campaign and the photographs and the way that it's being delivered. Rockaway as a brand is changing and growing, and I'm doing the same as an artist, so I think the partnership works well for both of us.
